What do you get when two ruthless assassins raise their daughter travelling through the wildest reaches of Caido? Take one look at Theea and you'll get a pretty good idea. Cheerful and tenacious in equal measure, and curious beyond all else, she began her journey on a mission to find those her mother once called family. And find them she did, soon rubbing elbows with demigods, leaders and even ghosts from the past. Her determination is resolute, her thirst for knowledge unmatched. We can't wait to see where her next adventure takes her!
Congratulations, Theea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Gods but it was hot in the desert. While that might seem obvious and perhaps not as problematic for someone who lived in Torchline, the dry heat had Flora wanting to drown herself in the canteen of water that she'd brought and to compass-herself home ASAP. The only thing keeping her was the opportunity to do a bit of target practice without anyone judging her for how often she missed. After the debacle in the Greatwood, regardless of how well things had turned out, Flora's poor aim was something that weighed heavily on the queen's mind.
"Alright you weird little fucks." Watching a pair of vampire gourds levitate and begin to spin around one another, the queen sipped a breath of too-dry air and reached for one of her daggers. Given that the creatures didn't seem terribly quick or clever, there was no good reason for her aim to be anything other than completely accurate, and yet as she let her blade fly, it went singing past the floating vegetables (fruits?), landing harmlessly in the sand.
The heat didn't fazed her as Thal made her way through the sandy dunes. She even had her black cloak still clasped around her neck, it's pleasant warmth making her hum a little. If she was alone, perhaps she'd let out a merry pirate song, however instincts proved correct when she spotted a woman in the distance, apparently fending off some gourds.
In a good enough mood to be curious, Thal sauntered casually towards the display. Her head titled to take in the scene, causing her horns to glint in the sunlight and her hair to shift down her back. She couldn't help the amused smile that appeared on her face as she watched a stray dagger fly past the spinning target, sinking in the sand nearby. Although not an expert with her own daggers yet, even she could do better than that. While one of the gourds appeared to be taunting the woman, it hadn't spotted Thal. Whether it was to protect the stranger from what was possibly harassment or to show off a little, she unsheathed her dagger without a second thought. It flew through the air, thudding into the orange menace before bursting into flames. Calling on her own magic to stoke the fire, she burnt the thing to a crisp, listening to it sizzle and scream before crashing to the ground.
Quite satisfied with herself, Thal nonchalantly approached to yank her dagger from the charred husk, flashing the woman a sharp fanged grin. "You looked like you could use a hand."
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
The sight of a dagger not thrown by her own hand had the hair on Flora's neck immediately standing up. With her other two daggers suddenly in her palms the queen whirls on her heels, one hand already back by her ear ready to launch the dagger in her hand. The ancient's sharp smile and rather lazy approach however had the Doubletake staying her attack and huffing out a short laugh under her breath. "No, what I could use is better aim." She admits, wry amusement curling her lips into a crooked smirk as she lowers her daggers.
"I swear, once upon a time I was good at this and now?" Shaking her head, Flora replaces one of the daggers in her belt before lifting her hand, recalling the fallen dagger directly into her palm. To be fair the queen had been taking on opponents much harder as of late, but that didn't soothe the growing sentiment that she was getting worse instead of better.
Noting the other woman's obvious racial tells, Flora grins, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow. "Guess the heat doesn't bother you out here, huh?"
The poised dagger had her own spine tingling momentarily before the woman seemed to think better of it. Not one to spare feelings, Thal didn't object to the lack of aim, chuckling at the obvious. "Perhaps you just need better motivation." The sharpness of her smile said more than her words. A little 'friendly' competition never caused anyone harm (lies). It wasn't like she was aware of just how much 'motivation' Flora had seen recently.
The comment about the heat made her glance up at the sunlight that must be brutal for anyone but an Ancient. Humming, she shrugged her shoulders. "Not really. It's actually quite pleasant." In fact, she can't recall a time she ever felt too warm. It was probably buried deep with the blackness of her mind.
Continually flipping her dagger in hand with practiced ease, Thal assessed the stranger. "Care to sharpen each other's skills?" The woman may have missed her first target, but the Ancient got the sense that she'd learn plenty from watching her, especially as she saw the handy recall of her dagger. It made her blue eyes twinkle with excitement.
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Raising her eyebrows, Flora now knew enough ancients to know better than to judge Thalassa for her petite frame and height, so rather than offering the other woman some sassy remark about how if nearly dying didn't count as motivation then she didn't know what did, instead the queen simply nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, probably."
Wrinkling her nose slightly at the mention of how pleasant Thal found the veritable oven they found themselves in, she was nevertheless tempted to take the other woman up on her offer even if it did mean remaining out in the heat even longer. "You know what? Sure. That sounds great. I'm Flora, by the way." Flashing the ancient a grin, the queen retreats a few steps, glancing casually over her shoulder toward where a few gourds were still loitering about. Deciding that they didn't seem to be much of a hazard at the moment, she lets her aqua stare flit back to Thal.
"These have poison on them, just as a heads up." She says, of her daggers, holding one up so that the ancient could see the starlight coating glistening across the blade. "So I'll aim at your feet." It would still be practicing her accuracy without needing to rush Thal back to Torchline in order to cure her of infection. So saying, the queen bobs her eyebrows to indicate she was going to start, before hurtling one of her daggers right at the pirate's feet.
Thal nodded her head at the introduction as she flipped her dagger again. "Thalassa." Laughing lightly, she raised her hands in an open arm shrug. Not that it was a competition (it totally was), she said, "Mine burst into flames, so that's probably for the best." Healing in the middle of a dessert didn't sound like it would be easy for either of them. It only seemed 'polite' that they limit the damage, and luckily, her black leather boots were hearty protection.
Sparing one last look for the lingering gourds around them, she narrowed her focus to the poisonous dagger shooting towards her feet. It was an easy matter of side-stepping to avoid the first attack. She threw her own dagger at Flora's feet in retaliation as she sprinted forward, hoping to force the woman back and make it difficult to avoid getting her feet stabbed.
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Thalassa..had she heard that name before? From Jack, maybe? A competitor out on the waters, perhaps?
Raising her eyebrows in an expression that was simultaneously impressed, jealous, and competitive, Flora nodded her head. "Cool, well, here's hoping no one dies, then." With no magic left to channel with this season, should Thal go rogue Flora would be left reaching for her compass to send her back to Torchline. She'd survive the trip, probably, but the Doubletake hated the idea of being so thoroughly without options. Then again, that's the entire reason she was trying to get better with her daggers.
Thal might have been fast, but for all the queen's aiming issues as of late, she was faster. Nimbly dodging out of the way of the dagger, Flora lifted a brow as she raised a hand, her thrown dagger recalling back into her hand as if to say can you do that? With a grin, she aimed once more just in front of Thal hoping to force the ancient off of her path.
Thal nodded her head in mute agreement. She might have brought up that she wasn't against any displays of blood, but then they were flinging sharp objects, and that took most of her attention. Because dang this woman was fast. Despite her own speed, she wouldn't stand a chance in hand-to-hand. Luckily, daggers weren't quite as hard to follow or dodge. With the first attacks out of the way, she was already painfully aware of their differences in skill, especially as Flora recalled one of the daggers.
No, she couldn't do that, and it annoyed her more than a little bit. She'd been considering asking Dygra for such a modification, and her current experience just made it all the more enticing. However, she'd have to think about that later, when she wasn't trying to avoid getting poisoned. For now, Thal settled for giving the woman a humorless smile. The next poisoned knife heading her way proved difficult to dodge, but she jumped, throwing her blade at Flora's feet to move her away from her first dagger. Once her opponent moved, she slid into her landing, scooping her weapon from the sand before standing to strike again. The spray of sand had her squinting to protect her eyes. It made her look more menacing than intended, not that it was a bad thing.
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Indeed the spray of sand did appear menacing, not least of all because Flora wasn't sure if it was done intentionally or as some prelude to another ability that Thal was about to unleash. Having only just learned that Ancient's possessed something Asta had called glamour, the Doubletake was all the more aware of just how ignorant she was about Caido's oldest race, and what other abilities they might have.
Hissing as the heat from Thal's blade warmed her leg as she skirted by it, unlike the pirate, the queen opted to leave her dagger where it was in the sand and simply reached for another in her belt. "So I guess with you being an ancient you can make a fire dagger way more of a problem for someone you're up against, huh?"
Pushing back her hair from her forehead before raising her brows and jutting out her chin to indicate she was going to throw again, Flora launched another blade toward Thal's feet.
As much as a sand ability would be helpful given the settings, Thal was trying to keep within the unspoken agreements of their dagger training; otherwise, she'd have called upon her fire ages ago. Instead, she had to settle for the ~extremely dangerous~ sand spray.
Huffing a light laugh, she gave Flora an amused smile as she scooped up her first throw and straightened to a stand. "Just a little." Although she hadn't had much of an opportunity to test out the methods more than literally fueling the fire. It made her all the more eager to observe other ways to utilize or improve her weapons, like recalling them. "But you don't seem to need that." Which was as much of a compliment as the Queen was going to get from her.
The obvious warning wasn't necessary in a 'spar' like theirs, but Thal couldn't deny that it was helpful, allowing her to barely avoid the poisonous tip that speared the sand next to her toes. It only seemed polite to give a warning in return, so she gave the very subtly raise of an eyebrow to indicate her next attack just as it flew from her hand.
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Hey listen. Sand rash was a real thing, not to mention the way a targeted enough blast could feel just like sandpaper if aimed the right way. Luckily for Flora it didn't seem as though the ancient planned on trying to flay her shins with her attacks, but that didn't stop the Doubletake from continuing to sprint out of the way of both Thal's dagger and the subsequent spray of sand.
Grinning in response, Flora gives her head a shake as her smile turns wry. "Yeah, not really looking to practice treating second-degree burns." She agrees, before noting the pirate's expression and steadying herself for another assault. This time Thal's dagger came dangerously close to piercing one of her toes, and the queen couldn't tell if it had been sloppiness on her part which had let the blade get so close, or if the other woman had simply upped her game. Either way, running about in the desert's dry heat was taking its toll, such that the Doubletake threw up her hands in mock surrender as she fought to catch her breath.
"I think if we were doing this for real.." Fighting to fill her lungs, Flora eventually straightened, flushed but grinning. "..you'd definitely have the upper hand." So saying, the queen recalls her blades and tucks them away. "But I appreciate the chance to practice."
Flora's raised hands didn't release the tension from Thal, too suspicious to accept a surrender that quickly, however, she paused momentarily to watch the woman closely. When no other signs of attack or deception caught her eyes, she finally rose from her crouched position in the sand. Retrieving her daggers, she nodded her head. "I suppose that's as close as we can get without actually stabbing each other." And she was as enthusiastic about nursing a poisoned wound as Flora was a burn. It seemed a good enough place to end. She certainly had some things to think about, particularly some upgrades to her own weaponry.
The words 'I'm not so sure about that,' nearly left her lips, but Thal had already given Flora a semi-compliment and she wasn't here to stroke any egos. Even if she did doubt that she'd be that much better than the Queen in the real thing. It'd probably be a much closer fight than she gave herself credit for. Instead, her lips came up in a mix of genuine smile and fake smirk. "Me too. We'll have to do it again sometime, perhaps in the vicinity of healing." Leaving Flora with the invitation, Thal made her way back from whence she'd come, mind swirling with thoughts and ideas.
